6 Innovative Ways to Recruit Top Talent in the Midst of the Great Resignation

Month after month, the Great Resignation continues to see large numbers of workers quitting their positions.

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in December 2021, 4.3 million workers voluntarily left their jobs. The health care and social assistance, accommodation and food services, and construction industries have seen the largest number of people exiting their roles.

Read on to discover 6 ways to attract and recruit top talent during the Great Resignation.

What is the Great Resignation?

What is the Great Resignation of 2021?

The phrase is credited to Anthony Klotz, professor of management at Texas A&M University. Klotz coined the term during a May 2021 interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. While discussing tips on how to quit your job during the post-pandemic boom Klotz mentioned that, “the Great Resignation is coming.”

According to NPR, approximately 33 million workers in the United States have quit their jobs since the spring of 2021 — but not everyone is quitting because they are stressed out, hate their job, or are taking a new job with better pay.

Some people are staying home to take care of young children or elderly parents. Some older employees are resigning to take early retirement. And other workers are leaving because they are unhappy with COVID-19 restrictions in the workplace.

Whatever the reason, when turnover is high at your organization, you need to find innovative ways to recruit top talent.

New hires vs. existing talent

Before you start thinking of ways to fill open jobs are you building or buying the position? A Forbes article mentioned how building refers to promoting internal candidates from within while buying refers to recruiting external candidates.

There are pros and cons associated with internally promoting current workers vs. externally hiring new candidates. Promoting from within:

• Increases engagement and motivation and encourages employees to work hard for a promotion
• Retains the skills of existing employees
• Lets you continue working with people who are a proven cultural fit
• Saves time and money when compared with bringing on new hires

There are other costs to bring in new employees when you factor in the expenses of recruiting, onboarding, and training. Time is also an issue as there is often a steep learning curve to get external candidates up to speed. However, new hires come with new skills and new ideas that your current staff may lack.

Attracting top talent

The Great Resignation has pushed some companies to offer higher salaries and improved benefits. These are just a few steps that may help control employee turnover.

Here’s a look at 6 unique ways to recruit top talent during the Great Resignation.

1. Promote your company’s positive culture

Positive company culture is one way to attract and recruit new workers. Take a minute to consider creative new ways to showcase your company’s unique culture.

Positive company culture is one way to attract and recruit new workers. Take a minute to consider creative new ways to showcase your company’s unique culture. According to Indeed, this recruiting strategy has the potential to spark a lot of interest in your business.

Perks and benefits are fine, but candidates are looking for more than just a paycheck. Share photos and videos of company team-building events on your social media sites. Starting a company blog is another great method for showcasing company wins, special projects, and awards.

2. Host virtual discovery events

Hosting monthly or quarterly virtual events is one way to present your company to external hires. This strategy works especially well for candidates living in different time zones that would have difficulty attending an in-person event.

A 1-hour live webinar or Facebook live event are 2 easy ways you can host a virtual discovery event. Each session could feature a different team or department — such as marketing one month and sales the next. At the end of each discovery event, open up the discussion to Q&A sessions in order to address any unanswered questions.

3. Reach out to schools about job shadowing

Reach out to local schools and universities about job shadowing opportunities. This gives recent high school graduates and college-age job seekers a chance to observe professionals at work.

The student simply watches what one of your employees does during a typical workday but doesn’t do any actual work. The job shadowing can last for a few hours, a day, or an entire week for a quick immersion opportunity.

At the end of each behind-the-scenes session, the student will know if they want to follow this career path or not. And, if there is a mutual fit, you could offer them a paid internship at your company — a potential win for everyone.

4. Provide free training clinics

Attracting new talent to your company is challenging. Sometimes it’s hard to find the perfect unicorn candidate, one who has ALL the desired skills.

But by searching for such elusive standards, you may be missing out on some almost-perfect candidates that are only lacking 1 or 2 specific skills. Consider offering free training sessions as this strategy could help broaden your candidate pool and help you identify top talent in the rough.

Consider offering free training sessions as this strategy could help broaden your candidate pool and help you identify top talent in the rough.

5. Offer flexible work options

Flexible work arrangements are still attractive to many candidates. But, some companies still don’t offer work-from-home or hybrid-work options. To stay competitive in today’s job market, you may have to go above and beyond what’s expected.

Offer employees the option of a 4-day work week or flexible hours. As long as they complete their work, and they are attending mandatory meetings via Zoom, does it really matter when or where they do so?

6. Outsource when it’s needed

Consider using an outside recruiter or recruiting agency to help you hire for key roles. Outsourcing external hires is a great idea when your HR team is understaffed or overworked. An HR outsourcing service can help with the heavy lifting of finding new hires and possibly expanding the talent pool.

Explore these innovative ways to recruit new employees, and with any luck, soon the Great Resignation will be a thing of the past.